We are at the twenty-eighth lesson in the chain of the generations, in the midst of the account of the history of the Rebbe Rashab. We concluded with the year 5643, after the Rebbe accepted the nesius, and from there we continue to the year 5652.
"5652 - He worked on behalf of those expelled from Moscow and achieved a postponement until the summer, and helped with substantial sums so that the expelled could settle in new places". It is known that Czar Alexander III had a very antisemitic policy, and in that period harsh decrees were issued against the Jews, among them harsh decrees against the Jews of Moscow. This took the form of their expulsion from the city, as a result of the laws of the Pale of Settlement - there were places where Jews were permitted to live, and places where they were forbidden. They were expelled from Moscow, and even those holding merchants' permits and the like were expelled along with them. Thousands of Jews were forced to leave their homes and found themselves without a livelihood and without housing. Here it is described that the Rebbe Rashab exerted himself greatly in this matter - to delay the decree of expulsion, and also to assist those Jews with sums that would enable them to settle in new places without losses.
"5653 - He reestablished the committee of communal activists in Petersburg". In a booklet called "Chinuch LeNaar", which is the first testament of the Rebbe Rashab, there appears at its beginning a list from the history of his life, and there this point is described - that all of his involvement revolved around assisting the Jewish people in all places. In 5653 the Rebbe Rashab reestablished the committee of communal activists.
"5654 - He visited the colonies in the Kherson district". The year 5654 is the year in which the Rebbe Rashab accepted the nesius in all its details, as was discussed also in the previous part, and this found expression in several points:
He fixed his place of prayer in the very place where the Rebbe Maharash regularly sat, which he had not done until then.
He began receiving chassidim for yechidus on a regular basis.
He began answering questions in writing, which had not been the case before then.
The maamarim that he said he gave over to be copied and publicized.
These are things that had not occurred for ten years, since the passing of the Rebbe Maharash.
In that year, 5654, it is told that the Rebbe Rashab was not feeling well, and traveled to meet doctors in Kharkov. From there he traveled for a few weeks to Odessa, and from there to the colonies of the Kherson district by way of Nikolayev, since the chassidim asked the Rebbe to come to them, to hear chassidus from him, and he needed to greatly strengthen the community of chassidim. The Rebbe traveled to Kamenchuk and so on, and only toward the month of Elul of that year did he return to Lubavitch. For about two months he was not in Lubavitch, and all of this was for the sake of strengthening the community of chassidim in all places.
"5657 - He founded the Tomchei Temimim yeshivos". A short sentence, about which there is a whole length of detail in the stories, and we will say a few brief words about it. This took place at the end of 5657, on 15 Elul, during the sheva brachos of the wedding of the Rebbe Rayatz. Then the Rebbe Rashab founded the Tomchei Temimim yeshivos - in the plural - a first branch in Lubavitch and a second branch in Zembin. The Rebbe Rayatz relates that in the year preceding that, in 5656, the Rebbe Rashab visited the holy resting places of all the Rebbeim: of the Baal Shem Tov, of the Maggid, of the Alter Rebbe, of the Mitteler Rebbe, and in Lubavitch itself of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek and of the Rebbe Maharash, and he said that with the holy blessing he received from all the Rebbeim he decided to found a yeshivah, to raise chassidishe bochurim with good character traits, devoted with mesirus nefesh to the ways of chassidus.
The yeshivah was not born from a thought of that moment alone; as is told, he had already been thinking about the matter for ten years, and over the course of ten years he visited the ohalim, mainly of the Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek and the Rebbe Maharash, until the decision came to found the yeshivah. There is a book called "Tomchei Temimim", in which one can see all the details of the matters connected with the yeshivah.
As for the name "Tomchei Temimim" - the name was not established at the time of the yeshivah's founding in 5657, but rather almost two years later. On the night of Simchas Torah of 5659, in the middle of the hakafos, in the middle of saying the passage "Tomech temimim hoshia na", the Rebbe Rashab announced that the name of the yeshivah that had been founded would be "Tomchei Temimim". And why Tomchei Temimim? He said, "Temimim" from the word temimus - that there should be wholeness here, the teaching of nigleh and the teaching of chassidus, and about this it is said "the Torah of Hashem is temimah, restoring the soul". And then he connected this to the content of the name, on the strength of the recitation in the hakafos "Tomech temimim hoshia na". And all of this is truly just a taste, and there is a whole length of detail about the founding of the Tomchei Temimim yeshivah.
"5658 - He made his journey in communal matters to Kiev and Odessa". In that year, in the winter, as is told in the diaries - it was during parshas Chayei Sarah - a secret gathering was held to which ten men were invited, representatives of various towns: Vilna, Riga, Kovna, Brisk, Odessa, Petersburg, Moscow and Kharkov. This secret gathering was meant to discuss how to act on behalf of the Jewish people as a whole. In all the stories one sees, even with our great Rebbeim, how many hours, days and years they devoted, and even money, in order to assist Jews materially - that they should have somewhere to live and something to live from.
"5659 - He expressed his opinion in the negative regarding the Zionist party". In 5659 the Rebbe published his first letter against the Zionists - a very sharp letter, in which it is stated that the approach of Zionism is a denial of the Holy One, blessed be He. The letter is printed in the Igros Kodesh of the Rebbe Rashab, volume one, on page 56 and onward, and afterward on page 206, and there are additional letters on this matter. The Rebbe Rashab was very sharp against the entire Zionist movement, since in its essence it negates and denies the guidance of the Holy One, blessed be He, and the complete Torah of Israel.
"5661 - He made his journey to Ashkenaz" - Ashkenaz, meaning Germany - "France and Holland, in communal matters". In that year, 5661, for almost the entire year, from Kislev until Elul, the Rebbe traveled around the world to various places, and all in order to meet Jews and to arouse various personalities regarding the condition of the Jews in Russia. The question of the Pale of Settlement was such a burning matter that he devoted much time to it - an entire year in 5661, and the continuation is also in the next passage.
"5662 - With the help of the generous Poliakov brothers and with the help of ICA, he founded a factory for weaving and spinning wool in the city of Dubrovna - Mohilev district, and approximately two thousand Jews work in it and earn a comfortable livelihood". "ICA" are initials in a foreign language of an organization whose meaning is "the Jewish Colonization Association" - an organization established with the aim of assisting Jews to settle in areas where they could earn a livelihood with dignity, and its activity was not only in Russia but also in additional countries. The Rebbe Rashab made use of their help, and as is told in one of the accounts, the Rebbe would relate that in 5661, two years earlier, he received a positive response from the great wealthy men who were called the Poliakov brothers. They agreed to assist in establishing a weaving factory, and said that they were prepared to give thirty-five thousand rubles - which were then approximately one hundred thousand French francs - for the elevation of the souls of their parents.
Apparently it took time until it was actually established, but everything was in order to assist Jews with a livelihood. In the Igros Kodesh of the Rebbe Rashab there is a letter that he wrote to the committee of ICA about establishing the factory, and the letter is signed not only by the Rebbe Rashab, but by all the leaders of the Jews of that period, four in number:
Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim Meizel of Lodz
Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk
Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski of Vilna
The Rebbe Rashab
All of them together wrote to this organization for the sake of establishing the enormous enterprise. And one sees here an enormous enterprise in which two thousand Jews earned a comfortable livelihood - how much the Rebbe invested in order to give Jews a livelihood and dignity.